Sounders sending Montero on loan to Millonarios

When Fredy Montero went yet another MLS post-season without scoring a goal, his future with the Seattle Sounders seemed to be put squarely in doubt.

Now, Montero may never get another chance to find that first playoff goal.

The Sounders have agreed to a deal to send Montero on a six-month loan to Colombian side Millonarios, sources confirmed to SBI on Thursday. The deal, first reported by Futbol Red, is a six-month loan with an option for a six-month extension of the loan, as well as a $4.5 million purchase option. Sources with knowledge of the loan deal have confirmed the parameters of the agreement.

The loan sends Montero to the reigning Colombian league champions, a team that will compete in Copa Libertadores this year.

Montero is set to leave the Sounders after four seasons. During that time he produced 47 goals and 34 assists. His production in the playoffs was far less impressive. He managed zero goals and two assists in 10 career playoff games with the Sounders.

At his best, Montero could be one of the best forwards in MLS, but stretches of inconsistency and poor production late in the year became common occurrences during his tenure in Seattle. The 25-year old never quite fit well with Eddie Johnson, which likely proved to be the last straw for the Sounders, who have spent a good part of the off-season trying to unload the All-Star forward.

Montero’s departure leaves Johnson as Seattle’s unquestioned lead striker, and also frees up room for the Sounders to sign another high-priced attacking player. With the team’s wealth of midfield options, Sigi Schmid could chose to focus on a one-forward attack, though the Sounders are a safe bet to add another forward this off-season.

What do you think of this development? Surprised to see Seattle part ways with Montero? Think the move is a mistake? Who would you like to see the Sounders sign in his place?

137 Responses to Sounders sending Montero on loan to Millonarios

I am a Sounders fan and I hate this move. This guy scores 10-15 goals a year and does a fair amount of creating as well. He’s struggled in the playoffs, but it’s not his fault that Rosales has been out the past two postseasons and EJ was out this time around. Can they replace him with someone better? I doubt it. Estrada is not the answer, Ochoa could be if he lost 10-15 lbs. Not likely. This is a huge change for the Sounders….

MLS has shown to be quite flexible with DP rules (Portland’s Valencia signing, LA’s 4 DPs while trying to unload JPA). I’d be shocked if Seattle voluntarily forfeits something so crucial to its own success.

Actually, JPA was gone before Keane was added to LA’s roster, and LA acknowledged that they had to deal JPA first. You might be confusing “4 DPs” with the fact everyone knew about Keane for a while before he was officially eligible to play a match for LA.

MLS just lost a good player so that bums me out. I always enjoyed watching him. Perhaps Seattle will do fine without him, I don’t know. The biggest issue with Sounders seems to be Rosales imho; when he’s healthy they’re great, when he’s not they’re average; they have no one who can fill his shoes; Rosales and EJ clicked well

There is a rumor the Sounders are chasing Joan Verdu of Espanyol. This may be step 1 clearing the room for that step 2.

Would it be wise? I dunno, Montero scores about as much a season as this guy has in his whole Espanyol tenure. 12-18 goals a season is harder to replace than people think. And between a slick if maddening Montero and an inconsistent poacher in EJ, I’d prefer the former. EJ tends to run in good-bad cycles.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing for the Sounders. Estrada is really good and was leading the team in goals last year before he got hurt. He always brings tons of energy to the field. I hope that Estrada plays up front with EJ. I don’t think the Sammy is the answer.

I think this was the right move for both parties (Sounders and Montero). It’s very very hard to get past the fact that Montero is a ghost in the postseason. There will always be love in Seattle for him but right now we need strikers with less of a streaky nature and on top of that we need money just to get into the next season with the team we have. Good deal for the money.

Its hard to judge this transaction until we see who they bring in. Montero is a very good MLS striker and this puts a huge hole in our attack. Having said that I can’t imagine Seattle makes this move without having another player lined up to replace Montero.

I honestly didn’t think Seattle would get rid of him unless they sold him. If they sold him, I could see how the money would help you get a better striker. To loan him……. gets you what exactly? I see there’s a purchase option, but it’s just that; an option.

Risky move but needs to be done. Fredy is the best player we have with the ball at his feet, but we need to try and find someone better. Lack of production in playoffs is the problem. Sure some key players were missing but a top striker should still be able to score.

If lack of production in the playoffs was the problem, why aren’t we holding the other 10 players accountable too? Fredy wasn’t the only guy capable of scoring, yet he’s the only one that gets blamed for not.

Yeah, I totally understand – I’m just relaying what rumors I’ve seen. If it were to open up a DP slot, I’m guessing there would be some trickery involved with allocation$ and maybe some other player’s contract…

I’d just say that it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if some new rule or loop hole was found during this whole process…

I think we could all be right. It could be a thing of semantics because, first off, Montero’s DP salary ($350k) would be off the books and Seattle would assuredly get some allocation from sending him on loan. Therefore, they would have $350k to spend on possibly one player, which in essence does not necessarily be a DP slot because his salary can be bought down with the added allocation $.

I have seen that they would buy Montero down to the point where we can use a little money and buy him down under DP for the year and so we can then get 3 DPs for the first 6 months and have Montero come back as a non-DP.

Their rights are owned by the lending MLS team ala LA loaning out Barrett and technically having 31 players on their roster. However, this may have been mitigated by Leonardo and Nakazawa’s season-ending injuries and thus their player “status”. Your guess is as good as mine.

It depends on what they can do with the money they get. If they can help cap room and buy down Mauro, then this is brilliant. This could get it to where the Sounders have 3 DPs til July and essentially 4 after. Montero doesn’t show up in big games, if we can pull someone who does, then we will be good. It all depends on the other transactions and how much allocation we get. I have heard that this buys Montero down to where we could get a 6 month DP slot, but that wont happen. Love this move if we do the right thing.

Ben, you Timbers need to spend all that free time you have with your team not making the playoffs ever year and come up with some better phrases….I mean, come on. NO MEANS NO, CARE LIKE WE DO…really? As a native Oregonian I know you Portlanders have the deck stacked against you in many ways, but even you guys can do better than that.

Better yet, forget the insults and just hit the weights so you’re properly prepared to hold your scarf over your head for hours at a time after conceeding yet another goal.

The purchase option states the price: $4.5 million. They’ll run him out on loan and he will either be worth it or not.

It might be a face saving way of ushering him out now without having to risk the move imploding over fee negotiations. Here, have him on loan for a lower fee, he goes off their cap, if they like him they pay a serious fee to keep him. If not, maybe Seattle loans him out to someone else, or trades him, or releases him by mutual agreement. But doing it this way they get him off the books and a limited fee up front and maybe a better fee later.

That quote alone highlights my displeasure with it. Either he is, or he’s not.

I understand the momentary flexibility surrounding the deal with MLS structure but the premise is ass backwards and I believe ratio for completion of deals that are “rent to own” in the transfer market is rather bleak.

But as I said in a different comment below, they may be less concerned about positive cash in the bank, than clearing cap and opening room for someone else. More pithily, their priority is cap and roster room over recompense. In which case they take a nominal fee for the loan up front — something for the bank — and they get the same cap clear from the loan as if he transferred. To me they are trying to get him out while saving face.

If they do buy him it’s a bonus….and they don’t even have to pay his salary in the meantime….

I don’t necessarily buy the wisdom but that is the theory. I do grant your point, particularly if you want the cash, that a rent to own is not maximizing immediate value for a decently productive asset. But I think they are fed up.

A loan doesn’t help the Sounders. Selling him would, though. Loaning him out clears salary off the books, but you lose services of the player. Duh. It’s like temporarily cutting the player, then bringing him back.

This doesn’t make the Sounders better. It just makes them cap compliant. Weak.

I like Freddy and will miss him. I don’t think he got enough credit for making the players around him better. That said, he has never given the impression of someone with great confidence. He is too easily pushed into self-doubt. (I know Landon Donovan can go into similar phases, but Freddy makes Donovan seem like Gary Cooper by comparison.)

The more I think about it, the more disappointed I am about this. Freddy scoring in the first Sounders game was thrilling. I would like to have seen him get a chance at playoff redemption.

I like him and will miss him too – something I think people often over look when they are talking about Fredy is that the dude plays quite a few minutes in all competitions and is rarely injured. Sure his scoring is streaky but he puts up consistent goals and assist numbers each season over the last 4.

agree with both of you. Montero was good for MLS, I’ll miss him. Blaming him for Seattle’s continuous gag jobs in the playoffs seems like he’s being scapegoated to me, but we’ll see if he was in fact the lone culprit.

Seattle seems always injured in key areas later is the season. Maybe that’s just my perception, I haven’t looked up the #, but. I’ve seen him play some great games for Seattle and score some awesome goals, that’s for sure.

He kicked serious butt in CCL games right? Scored a bunch of goals. I’ll miss rooting for him in those games

On a serious note, this move is Libertadores related. Millonarios have a darm good quad and could seriously challenge Corinthians are top dog in their group even with Corinthians signing Pato. South American clubs are known to grab a player(s) on a short-term deal to boast their Libertadores chances. It really is a win-win for all involved. Europe scouts the Libertadores heavily. If Montero performs well it just ups his value. How is that not good for all parties involved??? Seattle has a pretty smart and saavy Front Office and while they can’t replace him per se, they will find an alternative to his production.

I’m not taking about the Colombian league, I’m talking about Millionarios specifically. Have you seen them? They are head and shoulders above the rest in Colombia and their international record the last few years speaks for itself. I encourage you to branch out a bit and catch a Millionarios match on the web. They are fantastic, very exciting, and well coached. I said the can challenge Corinthians. I didn’t say they would win.

Good decision. I like Montero, but it’s time to find more consistency. Montero has been looking to leave Seattle anyway. He has stated that he wants to be more in Peckermans plans for Colombia, so it was inevitable that something was going to happen with Montero this offseason. Good luck to him.

His dream seemed to be Europe but if he has Colombian aspirations then this would be like, you know, EJ or Feilhaber or Mixx coming back to MLS. Put yourself right under the coach’s nose and see what happens. Sometimes it works sometimes not. [I know Mixx hasn’t signed here, but I’m talking about concept.]

Sounders now have absolutely 0 chance at making a CCL run this spring. Montero will prove to be a huge loss for them. Strikers and goal scoring in general are streaky, get used to it people. Him and Johnson didn’t fit together? That’s news to me, I thought they were the best forward tandem in the league once Johnson got settled. Also, does anyone actually believe Millionarios is actually gonna pay $4.5 mil for him? No chance they have that cash to spend.

For the last couple years his “inconsistency” has been overstated. If you judge just by looking at numbers then perhaps. But this disregards stretches where he did a lot of good work in the offensive third, but other guys were getting the “numbers”. And even if you do base everything on the numbers, I doubt you’d see anything unusual in the distribution of his goals and assists in comparison to others at a similar level if you really researched the stats.

I got to think they are looking for another DP. However it works. Maybe they bring someone in for a non-DP until he signs with Millonarios ( if not they trade him somewhere else ), then they upgrade to DP at that point ?

Gonna be a fun few weeks of rumors. It is a risky move, but they needed to shake it up to win it all, wasn’t gonna happen with FM.

He’s a good player that was expected and paid to be great. I was expecting Seattle to force this issue because he disappears in big games. The loan could be good because, if he finds his form in a new environment he could still be brought back to Seattle. Or, if its clear Seattle wasn’t willing to keep him, he could prove himself and get an offer there.

I don’t think Seattle will easily find another 15 goal striker. It’s not that easy to find. But this tells what kind if team they’re willing to be, or willing to settle being. Looks like they really want more from the club and are demanding it. Not such a bad thing as long as it doesn’t become like New York.

The DP slot is a tricky issue. But as several clubs have shown, it’s possible to get a high paid, non-DP who is a game-changer. The question is, will they?

And out comes all the naysaying…. Considering only a select few Know the Big Picture & Plan, it’s kind of depressing to read all the negative. What I’ve learned: Smart front offices maintain their poker faces & wait til the dust settles before showing their full hand. I Expect nothing less from SSFC’s & have some faith in their execution… Good wishes to Fredy, wherever you land. And to the guy who’s dragging up old Fredy legal tapes on here: you’re misinformed. He was innocent. Check your facts before spewing false, inaccurate haterade.

1) Montero wants to land somewhere in Europe. He thinks a solid showing in Copa Libertatores will do it for him.

2) Millonarios want to show well in Copa Libertadores. They think Fredy will help them do that.

3) Sounders are very ambitious and want to offload Montero so they can upgrade. I’m inclined to believe that Sounders would only send Fredy away if they ALREADY have a replacement lined up. Also, apparently there’s a loophole that allows Fredy’s dp contract to NOT count against Seattle while he’s out on loan. (Ives doesn’t like links in the comments, so just google Sounder At Heart for the details)

Gonna be interesting to see if Seattle does make a flashy dp signing in the next month. I think they will.

This would be risky, but if you can get a DP to come to Seattle right now, you buyout Mauro now (injury prone and getting old, plus we have a lot of potential wingers). This guy has to be a good name. If Montero sells in the summer, this allows for another potential name in the summer to come in, really retooling Seattle. Wishful thinking yes, but it isn’t a bad move and we have the money to buyout Rosales.

Millonarios definitely can’t pay that $4.5 mil price tag but if he does very well in Libertadores then some European teams might come calling. They really have it tough being in the same group with Corinthians, Mexican Champions Xolos and Bolivia’s San Jose at 3,700+ above sea level.

With the extremely deep pockets of the owners and constant boasting of box office receipts. ..I am really surprised that no one is asking or demanding that they double down on that 4.5 and sign a world class striker. Especially with the names floating around the Galaxy and NYRB camps

Freddy coming here was meant to be a turning point in South American youngsters coming to MLS instead of Europe or Brazil or Argentina to develop. Along with him, other notable teenagers like Roger Torres and Fabián Castillo followed hoping for the same.

Of those big three from Colombia: Freddy has not improved a bit, Roger has been benched even though when I’ve seen him play he played well, and Castillo hasn’t really improved. Whereas, back in Colombia they all played more regularly for their full team. MLS just doesn’t value young creative players. We’ve finally embraced older, proven creative/technical-types, but the trial and error moments in developing youth aren’t where we need them.

I’m not sure many South American agents will warmly recommend the US now after a couple failures.

How has Freddy not improved Josh? Tell me. He is a much better player then he was when he came. If anything it shows how much a player can develop in MLS, so how is the MLS the loser in this situation?Castillo has played a lot for FC Dallas,the kid is young and will continue to get better. Roger Torres when I have seen him play, hasn’t really stood out. Valdes made the Colombian national team, while he was here. Freddy biggest problem is his failures on the big stage, which why no European club has come calling. Espinoza has been watch by Wigan for a while, before this year. I think your assessment is way off.

Valdes is not a teenager. I’m talking young young kids. He isn’t a “much better player” since coming here. He was supposed to go to Europe and those within Colombian circles had him as a future national team striker.

My argument with Castillo is that he hasn’t improved, not that he hasn’t played any. Torres looked ace his first season, young and raw, but dynamic. Adu’s arrival means he has been pushed to the side.

Colombia FW position is very good now,in four years things can change quickly. Castillo was 18 years old when he came here, he is only 20 years, talked about being Impatient. Players take awhile to develop. Torres look like ace in his first season, doesn’t mean he was that super talented player, that is a must to have. However even saying that, he is only 21. Not to mention you have Farfan who has develop into some player. Besides that how many young Colombians have come to the MLS? you act like it’s a huge sample size, to judge from. Portland has two,but are very young. The same for Chivas, he is also very young. You mention Castillo,who is still young. So allow these players to grow and get better.

I think he got tougher and I think his hold up play got better. I think he matured here. I remember when he first came into the league and he was always falling over too easily and looking for a call. Now I think he is much better at staying on his feet and fighting with some of those big defenders.

I also think he’s shown himself to be more of a leader over the years and also improved his English – from needing a translator for everything to being able to handle full interviews in English.

Getting “tougher” is not developing and the fact we’d point to that as an improvement shows that he hasn’t developed.

His hold up play has gotten better, but he’s not a hold up player. He’s a creative striker who prefers to play in the hole. He’s technical and creative, not a Heskey or Carroll. He’s an Ibra or even a Van Persie-type striker.

Technically, which is what you’re trying to develop in kids, he has stalled. His ability to pick out players hasn’t improved, his ability on the ball hasn’t improved, and his shooting hasn’t improved.

What has he learned since coming here? He’s tougher? Yawn. His hold up play is better? That’s fine, except that’s like telling a sideback that now they’re better in the air. It’s a like to have, but a sideback should be concentrating on different defensive aspects of his game. He knows English? Great?

Montero has been here long enough and after three years, has nothing to show for it. A real coach who knew how to develop players would have seen a mark improvement in Freddy’s abilities.

He was linked with big teams in Europe. And yes, young players tend to sit and watch a lot, but at least you would have seen an improvement in his game. Much like although Jozy wasn’t seeing a lot of time prior to AZ, he has improved greatly.

I think Jozy is the same as Freddy – they prefer the ball at their feet, they aren’t target men. Jozy’s size is almost dictating that he becomes one, but arguably Jozy and Freddy were level in skill at one point. Jozy is now ten levels ahead of Freddy.

I agree with you to an extent that he hasn’t “developed” since being here, but when came over to MLS at 21 or whatever he was four years ago, I would have argued he was already one of the most gifted players in MLS.

What you said though was that “Freddy has not improved at bit…” and I still think that is a false statement.

Getting “tougher” is not developing? Of course getting tougher is developing, My father is a soccer coach and would disagree with you strongly. To play in top leagues in Europe you have to became tougher or you wont last in the top leagues in Europe. It’s the reason a lot of South American fail in Europe. Improving technically is not the only thing a player needs to develop, a player should also develop the physical side of the game. People only see one side of Messi, and yeshe is very technically gifted,however he also is very short strong guy. Which is why I have my doubts about Neymar, who is so skinny. His ball skills has improve a lot as well, Only a fool wouldn’t see that improvement. Both an Ibra or even a Van Persie, are also physically strong and is one of the reasons Van Persie has last, in one of the most physical leagues in the world, the EPL. Technically, he has gotten better, have you seen his highlights last season. While he had some great highlights the prior season’s as well, I have seen improvement in his technically in his game. I have been around the game my entire life, my father played back in Nigeria and so did his father. Much like although Jozy wasn’t seeing a lot of time prior to AZ, he has improved greatly.You then mention Jozy Improvement, but don’t mention that the Dutch league play great entertaining soccer, but also have some of the worst def. in Europe. The dutch league is not a physical league, and while we have seen some great players go on to other leagues and do well, we have also seen a lot of bust,because the nature of physicality of the top leagues are higher and the defending better.

Wow, the number of comments on this thread, for a non-USMNT eligible player, during the dead part of the MLS off-season, just goes to show how far MLS has come. The league is really starting to generate some buzz.

Sounders better have a great striker lined up…you don’t just send away a goal scorer, passer, and creative player like Montero without having someone ready to sign. Regardless of what he did or didnt do in playoffs, players like Montero are not easy to find in MLS. I think Seattle might regret this…in the short-term.

I still think this is his way to get on the national team. What has been keeping him off the columbian nat team? I think personally cause he’s in mls, that nat team coaches don’t respect it as a leauge. This is his way to ge notice play in his home country and and maybe move abroad. You never know. But then again it’s just my opioin.

I see it as this. No longer will Sounders fans worry about his crap attitude he shows during the games when he does not think running is necessary. He was over rated and still is. He scored…yes he did but he did not when it mattered most. Let him go back and play with Perlaza. Lets see how that works. That will be a bigger test than anything he has seen in his career. If he wants a chance at the national team, like everyone knows he desires then he needs to replicate his goal numbers and score more. If not, he was a fluke in a sub par league…yes I just said that about MLS.

So wait you think the Colombian league is better then MLS? I don’t know what to laugh at. The funny thing is Valdes plays in MLS, yet he started every game for Colombia in WCQ. Freddy has not made the National because the position he plays at, Forward. Colombian is very deep at forward. MLS is not a sub par league, only your knowledge of the game is.

CCL stud he’s been, those games matter, and he produced in them. I can understand some frustration from the Sounders faithful that Fredy didn’t produce in MLS playoffs, but that whole team doesn’t produce in the MLS playoffs. Sigi gets none of that responsibility?

anyway, we’ll see what Seattle does, but in my mind, MLS just took a blow

whatever…we disagree. Montero is the young talent that the league is always looking for. You cannot always get a player like Montero either. He scored 6 goals in CCL for the Sounders this year right? You can always get a player like that?

PS- for those gnashing their teeth about this, remember news like this is only one side of a coin; there’s going to be a corresponding signing to balance this out. Sigi and crew have proven themselves to be great sportsbusinessmen, and are playing their cards exactly as they should. Montero had his chance, but he obviously wants to leave, and Sounders aren’t going to cry over it. They have someone waiting in the wings. Mark my word!

Fredy Montero’s replacement is Mario Martinez. Rising star for Honduras, helping in WC qualifiers and was the “new guy” thrust right into the playoffs where he scored one of the biggest goals in Sounders history. He prefers playing in the hole and will have had half a season and a full preseason at the start of next year.

Then there’s a guy named Zakuani.

Fredy Montero lost his spot in the Sounders lineup. We better move him on before he’s a substitute and his value plummets.

Fredy has scored too many highlight reel goals to mention all, but two of my favorites were the goal against RSL in the 2nd game of the 2009 season, and goal against NY (chest trap, thigh, foot near post) in 2010.

For everyone who wants to blame Fredy for playoff losses, I’d just say twice letting in 3 goals in first leg of a playoff series, maybe work on that before blaming the forward.